Monday, January 4, 2016

The moment I read the book which preceded this, Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples, by Yatsuko Endo and her fellow companions at the graphics company, CRK Design, in Japan, I was hooked. I couldn't wait to review this book as well. Happily, it doesn't disappoint. It promises to take the reader on a merry ride employing "Embroidery, Crewel, Cross Stitch, Mini Motifs, and More!"
This pledge to teach bead embroidery using all these styles of sewing makes for a delightful book which will bring pleasure to any beginner or old hand at embroidery. One look at the cover and the reader will see how charming this classically-based yet inventive, hip and original book is.
The book is simply laid out. It begins with a chapter called "Basic Lesson", which is followed by "Mini Motif". After this is a chapter called "Crewel", Then comes "Basic Stitches", "Cross Stitches", once again an overview chapter called "Mini Motif" and "Lesson Notes".
In the Basic Lesson Chapter, the reader learns what materials she will need, the basics of embroidery and some sweet motifs with bead embroidery. The photographs are excellent and inspiring. The reader will be able to quickly pick up on how to employ the tools, and will be given some incredibly fun lessons on how to bead a collections of sweets to decorate a child's T shirt. There is a sampler to work as well, with an entire collection of darling little donuts embroidered with beads to practice on! What's more, there is another sampler like the one directly below which is just as cute!

Tiny little people wearing ethnic costumes from different lands will take your heart away. It is so fun to learn to embroider with beads with such appealing designs.

If you like classic embroidery, the paisley flowers with beads with knock your socks off. These flowers on a blouse or shirt would be totally magnificent.

When the reader arrives at the chapter which covers crewel work, the first lesson is titled "Scandinavian Motif 1 with Beads."
It is the beautiful pocketbook shown below:

There is a full second section on this style of beaded crewelwork, which is just as pretty. There is also a selection of darning stitches, trellis stitches, knotted stitches, and filling stitches. The instructions on how to add bead to these are pretty and clear. The chapter on cross stitch using Eastern European Motifs with Beads which follows is stunning.
In the final chapter, with lesson notes on how to stitch with beads, the reader is presented with an adorable penguin family, as well as some tropical trees and warm weather birds to balance them out. The rest of the chapter contains great stitching charts for each project.

In summary, all I can say is that I hope we get another offering of beaded embroidery projects from CRK Design & Yatsuko Endo, because I believe that their work is top notch. I also think that hand crafted work like this is not as common as it used to be. Perhaps if more people realized how lovely and fun this kind of bead stitchery is, this art would thrive for generations to come.

Bead Emboidery Stitch Samples Motifs

By Yasuka Endo

Interweave/F+W: $17.99

Using nothing more than embroidery threads and simple beads, Bead Embroidery Stitch Sampler: Motifs offers beginner and advanced embroidery enthusiasts alike new ways to set their work apart.